The Bad News Bears

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Walter Matthau stars as the grumbling, beer-guzzling Morris Buttermaker, a former minor-league pitcher roped into coaching a crass bunch of perpetually losing half-pint misfits. Desperate to win, Coach Morris brings in two ringers. One is his ex-girlfriend's athletic daughter, Amanda (Tatum O'Neal), and the other the rebellious but talented Kelly (Jackie Earle Haley). Director Michael Ritchie's kids' sports comedy catapulted the genre's popularity.
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Netflix Rating: 3.6
Top Rotten Tomatoes Critics: Surprisingly, improbably, The Bad News Bears is the year's funniest movie. full review

Jay Cocks, TIME Magazine

Michael Ritchie keeps his dead-end cynicism in check and produces a genuinely funny comedy about a Little League team managed by a lovably drunken Walter Matthau. full review

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

An extremely funny adult-child comedy film. full review

Variety, Variety

[Ritchie] keeps the sentimentality in check most of the time and obtains first-rate performers from his miniature cast all of the time. full review

Vincent Canby, New York Times

[Ritchie] directs scenes for comedy even in the face of his disturbing material and that makes the movie all the more effective; sometimes we laugh, and sometimes we can't, and the movie's working best when we're silent. full review

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times